AN INTELLIGENT TOOL FOR COLLECTING AND PROCESSING MEDICAL INFORMATION
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introduction
This chapter presents the introduction to intelligent tools for collecting and processing medical information. It presents the introduction, theoretical background, statement of the problem, aim and objectives of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, organization of the research and definition of terms
The use of the computer system for collecting and processing medical information is very vital. For instance, detecting diseases at early stage can enable the medical diagnosis officers to overcome and treat them appropriately. Identifying the treatment accurately depends on the method that is used in diagnosing the diseases. A Diagnosis expert system (DExS) can help a great deal in identifying those diseases and describing methods of treatment to be carried out taking into account the user capability in order to deal and interact with expert system easily and clearly. Present expert system uses inference rules and plays an important role that will provide certain methods of diagnosis for treatment.
1.1 Theoretical Background
Computer-based methods are increasingly used to improve the quality of medical services. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the area of computer science focusing on creating expert machines that can engage on behaviors that humans consider intelligent. An expert system is a system that employs human knowledge captured in a computer to solve problems that ordinarily require human expertise [2]. Expert system seeks and utilizes relevant information from their human users and from available knowledge bases in order to make recommendations [3].
Knowledge acquisition: The data and knowledge of DExS are collected from different sources. The first primary source is the medical knowledge of expert doctors. The second source is from specialized databases, books and a few electronic websites.
Knowledge representation: The proposed system is rule-based system and makes inferences with symbols, which require translation of a diseases specific knowledge in the standard symbolic form. In the first phase, the medical background of diseases is recorded through the creation of personal interview with doctors and patients. In the second phase, a set of rules is created where each rule contains in IF part that has the symptoms and in THEN part that has the disease that should be realized. The inference engine (forward reasoning) is a mechanism through which rules are selected to be fired. It is based on a pattern matching algorithm whose main purpose is to associate the facts (input data) with applicable rules from the rule base. Finally, the diseases are produced by the inference engine. This expert system then defines the symptoms for diseases. DExS System can be used in consultation since it shows quickly the diagnosis and in addition, it offers explanations of the obtained results, being very helpful to the professional. With the expert system, the user can interact with a computer to solve a certain problem. This can occur because the expert system can store heuristic knowledge.
The proposed system performs many functions. It will conclude the diagnosis based on answers of the user to specific question that the system asks the user. The questions provide the system for explanation for the symptoms of the patient that helps the expert system for diagnosis the disease by inference engine. It stores the facts and the conclusion of the inference of the system, and the user, for each case, in database. It processes the database in order to extract rules, which completes the knowledge base.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The following identified problems necessitated this study:
- Manual method of collecting and processing medical information
- Accumulation of paper files and wastage of useful office space.
- Inability to instantly get medical reports of patients.
- Absence of computer based tools to manage medical information of patients.
1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of the study is to develop an intelligent tool for collecting and processing medical information with the following objectives:
- To design a system that can replace the manual method of capturing and processing medical information of patients.
- To implement a system that will facilitate electronic storage of patient information.
- To design a system that can be used to store diagnosis information and prescriptions given to patients.
- To design a system that can be used to obtain reports of patients medical information.
1.4 Significance of the Study
The study is significant in the following ways:
- It will provide an avenue to properly collect and process medical information of patients.
- It will eliminate the accumulation of paper files.
- It will enable easy access to medical information of patients
- The study will be useful to other researchers seeking similar information.
1.5 Scope of the Study
This study covers intelligent tools for collecting and processing medical information using General hospital Ikot Ekpene as a case study.
1.6 Organization of the Research
This research work is organized into five chapters. Chapter one is concerned with the introduction of the research study and it presents the preliminaries, theoretical background, statement of the problem, aim and objectives of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, organization of the research and definition of terms.
Chapter two focuses on the literature review, the contributions of other scholars on the subject matter are discussed.
Chapter three is concerned with the system analysis and design. It presents the research methodology used in the development of the system, it analyzes the present system to identify the problems and provides information on the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed system. The system design is also presented in this chapter.
Chapter four presents the system implementation and documentation, the choice of programming language, analysis of modules, choice of programming language and system requirements for implementation.
Chapter five focuses on the summary, constraints of the study, conclusion and recommendations are provided in this chapter based on the study carried out.
AN INTELLIGENT TOOL FOR COLLECTING AND PROCESSING MEDICAL INFORMATION
